Braceface Pornography Story: Regrets – Chapter 1

By: Julia DeLuca

“Braceface” is copyright to Nervana. Though the characters in here are
being used without permission, no profit is being made from this story.

Alden looked out his bedroom window, and grimaced. He saw the first
snowflake fall from the sky, more following suite. He knew a snowstorm was
on its way, but he didn’t expect it to arrive so suddenly. That meant band
practice would be canceled, since no parent would want to drive in a
snowstorm unless it was necessary. He closed his window and his window
drapes to ward off the cold, then turned on a nearby lamp to replace the
lost light brought by his window. He sat by his desk again, and then
pulled out a sheet of paper.

Since I can’t go out and play with my friends, Alden thought grimly. I
might as well get to work on some new song lyrics.

As he dug through his desk drawer, he accidentally pulled out a
colorful bracelet. When he prepared to put back into his drawer, he looked
at it again with great fastidiousness. He held up close to his face,
examining the multitude of colors all over the band with his blue eyes.
Sharon’s present, Alden thought.

~Flashback~

Alden stood up from his arcade consol, and then looked at his
girlfriend’s face. Sharon placed a multi-colored band into Alden’s hand.
He held up into the light in order to get a better idea on what he was
getting.

“What’s this?” Alden asked.

“It’s a bracelet,” Sharon said, her apple green eyes twinkling with
anticipation and excitement. “It’s a present. You know; to celebrate our
anniversary.”

“?” Alden asked, somewhat in surprise. They actually have
those for boyfriends and girlfriends?

~Present Day~

Alden stared sadly at the bracelet as he placed it on his desk. It
had been nearly four months since he and Sharon had broken up. In his
mind, he knew that wasn’t true. They didn’t break up; he dumped her. He
shut his eyes momentarily, and opened them up again. For that brief
moment, he heard Sharon’s crying and whimpering.

~Flashback~

Alden was crouched on the ground, strumming the strings of his guitar
with his guitar pick. He didn’t want to look up and face Sharon. He was
too angry with her for the words she had said. Insulting his new friends
Tess and Marie, calling his best friend Brock “desperate”, and all those
other hurtful words. He knew she didn’t mean what she said, and what she
wrote was out of a fit of anger. But, even though he knew that, he
couldn’t forgive her. The words she had said, filled with criticism for
his friendship with Tess. So what if she wasn’t the smartest person in the
world? Alden knew that was an exaggeration; he knew of Tess’s repeated
tendencies to woo him over. But still, that was no excuse for what Sharon
had said about Tess, Brock, and most of all, himself. How could he
continue being with a girl who couldn’t trust him, or expect him to only
have her on his mind? Not only was Sharon to over possessive of him, she
just expected too much of him. He knew that he was about to was the only
solution available. For the both of them.

“I really thought our relationship could handle anything that came our
way,” Alden confessed, his voice still bitter. “But I guess I was wrong.”
With that, Sharon crouched down to the ground in order to be face-to-
face with Alden. He stared at his guitar strings in order to avoid eye
contact with his now former girlfriend.

“You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?” Sharon asked in total shock.
When Alden didn’t respond, Sharon knew his answer. “You are. Does this
mean you and Tess will be going out now?”

“Tess and I are just friends, and nothing more,” Alden reminded her,
standing up. “I’m just not ready for a committed relationship yet. I need
to be on my own for a while. To keep things simple.” Try to understand,
Sharon.

But Sharon didn’t understand. As he left her in the music room, he
overheard her hysterical crying. He stopped for a moment, and then peered
back in. He saw her, sitting with her back to the wall, head buried in her
arms with her legs to her waist. She lifted her head up for a moment to
get air. When she did so, Alden saw her face, her beautiful cheeks
streaked with tears, those beautiful green eyes red from her crying. After
breathing and hiccupping, she buried her face into her legs, more sobbing
and sniffing emerging from her. He left again, hastily so she wouldn’t
have noticed he was there. Part of him wanted to go back and try to
explain to her why he did what he did. But he couldn’t because he was
still angry with her for what she did.

This is not my fault, Alden reminded himself over and over. Her paranoia
and her jealousy brought this. Sharon’ll soon realize that what I did was
for the best. I hope.

~Present Day~

Alden felt tears fall from his blue eyes as he stared at the
bracelet, staining his paper. The anger he felt for Sharon’s reaction was
now replaced with overwhelming guilt. Deep down, he always knew that it
wasn’t completely Sharon’s fault that they were no longer dating. Two
years had passed since Alden said those fateful words. Two years since he
and Sharon had shared a kiss. Two years since Alden decided that they
should move on.

It’s official then; I’m an idiot! He thought bitterly. How could I have
been so stupid as to let Sharon go?

Alden looked back down on his blank paper, then dug into his desk
drawer and pulled out a pencil. As he placed the tip onto the paper, he
began to write.

‘Fallen Angel. By Alden Jones’, Alden thought as he began to write.

Sounds hummed loudly, the vibrating reverberations from the strings
echoing from the music room. Alden and Brock strummed their guitar strings
with great speed, sweat glistening down their skin, while Carmen banged on
the drums loudly, his short brown hair dancing wildly around his face. The
sounds from their music were so loud, they couldn’t even hear themselves
shout above the notes. Brock strummed one last hymn on his electric
guitar, and the music slowly game devolved into pure silence. When the
final chords had faded out into the music room’s air, the guys did their
usual cheers and claps.

“Excellent rhythms, Carmen,” Alden complimented, wiping the sweat from his
forehead.

“Too bad your playing was off some,” Carmen said absently. When he
realized what he said, he felt horrible. “I take that back! I didn’t mean
it that way! I meant–“

“Don’t bother. I get it,” Alden said, putting his guitar back into his
case. “I’ve just been having my mind on a lot of stuff lately. I just hope
I have enough time tonight to study for that big History next Monday. Mom
and dad have been hounding me about my grades lately.”

“Ditto,” Brock agreed, locking up his case. “Except the pressure’s worse
with my dad.”

“Maybe you can convince your dad to come over tomorrow and spend the
weekend,” Alden suggested. “I can help you understand some of the concepts
of the Civil Rights movement.”

“Thanks, dude,” Brock complimented, going the school’s phone. “I’ll call
dad and ask him if it’s okay.”

“Let me know soon, okay?” Alden asked, opening the door. “I’m gonna grab
something form my locker then take a quick whiz.”

Alden and Carmen left, leaving Brock alone in the music room for a
few minutes. As he prepared to dial his family’s phone number, he noticed
something on the ground. At first, he thought it was just a regular piece
of paper that someone forgot. So, he just shrugged it off and prepared to
dunk it into the trash. However, as he prepared to do so, he noticed some
familiar shapes on the paper. Curious, he unfolded the sheet to further
examine the details. When he realized what they were, his eyes widened and
his jaw dropped in awe.

SPITZ! He immediately thought.

Brock could not have been more right at the time. The square shapes
and the lines connecting them across a girl’s pair of teeth, the mid-length
hair, the hair clips, and the medallion draped around her neck. The only
person who he knew had that appearance was Alden’s ex-girlfriend, Sharon
Spitz. But why would a drawing of her be in their practice room? When he
looked at the back, he saw more sketches of Sharon’s face. The one in the
center of the page showed her with her head hanging down, tears streaming
down her cheeks. The corners were streaked with tear marks, which Brock
assumed were Alden’s. After he skimmed through the lyrics, the one item on
the article of paper that caught his attention was the date. The day that
this poem, or song, was written was Wednesday, and today was Friday, and
the year was 2004 when it was written. Alden dumped Sharon in the year
2002, leaving Brock with the only conclusion possible.

He still loves her, Brock realized. Dude.

~To Be Continued~